Mechanics Cooperative Bank, with headquarters at 308 Bay St., is now in the process of forming a merger with Lafayette Federal Savings Bank in Fall River.

The agreement will officially become effective Sept. 1 with the respective data bases of the two banking institutions fully converging by Dec. 8, according to Joseph T. Baptista Jr., Mechanics Cooperative president and chief executive officer.

Baptista — who will remain CEO of what will still be known as Mechanics Cooperative Bank — said that none of the approximately 45 employees who now work at the bank’s four locations need worry about losing their jobs.

He said the only notable change, initially at least, will be of a corporate, logistical nature — since Baptista’s office is in Whittenton and Lafayette Federal Savings Bank’s office is on Bedford Street in Fall River.

Baptista said the union will result in total assets of nearly $320 million, $206 million of which will come from Mechanics and $113 million from Lafayette.

And although he conceded that the merger will provide a benefit — both in terms of overall growth potential and gaining a foothold in an increasingly competitive market — he stressed that the move was not one borne of necessity.

“We’re both financially strong banks. There was no need to do something,” Baptista said.

He said the boards of both banks unanimously approved a proposal to merge and that shareholders — bank depositors — who showed up for a special meeting also overwhelmingly voted in support of the measure.

The merger will result in eight branch offices. Mechanics, including its corporate office on Bay Street, currently has two in Taunton and one each in North Dighton and Bridgewater.

Lafayette, besides its main office on Bedford Street, has one in Westport, Somerset and Swansea.

Barry Bibeau, president of Lafayette Savings Bank, said his customers will gain a significant advantage, as a result of the Fall River-based bank leaving the federal banking system and instead becoming a part of the state chartered system.

Bay State-chartered banks, and some credit unions, provide full coverage regardless the size of an individual account. In contrast, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp. typically guarantees a maximum of up to $100,000 and independent retirement accounts only up to $250,000, he said.

He noted that with mergers having become a common, national trend during the past 20 years it was a “no-brainer” that he and his board would be interested in finding a way to extend their reach northward.

Bibeau, 50, has worked for Lafayette Savings for 30 years and been its president the past 16 years. He said he will retain a senior management position with the newly formed institution, and that there will be “no loss of jobs” among the forty-odd people who now comprise his work force.

Baptista, 38, became president of Mechanics Cooperative less than two years ago when Thomas Souza retired from the post. He formerly worked for six years during the 1990’s as an FDIC examiner, he said.

Taunton’s other homegrown savings bank, Bristol County Savings Bank, in 2007 attempted to merge with Randolph Savings Bank but was rebuffed when that bank’s governing board rejected the proposal.